Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for February 15, 2012

finally he realizes the truth!!

Greg’s Blackboard Jungle.

Listen to him Gunther. Gotta love everyone as they are. Only way the will world work.

That’s right Gunther, you are a wimpy nerd.

Check out the movie ‘My Bodyguard’, Gunther.

Not to intrude into your flight of fancy or anything, but 98% of statistics are made up. .There are overcompensating jerks in every field of life, and martial arts are no exception.

Well, my little brother took judo in hs because of the same thing. Now he’s a black belt, sooo…..

Nerds inherit the earth. That much IS true. Look at Dirk. He is a trash collector. Brad is the firefighter.

Any decently taught martial artist would avoid a situation where he/she would be forced to fight. You can walk away, you don’t have to “prove” yourself to anyone. The macho/kick ass personna is not realistic. Any true martial art involves mind, body and spirit. Kung Fu, The Way Of Life

Actually I know a lot of martial artists- the farther they go, the less likely they are to go out and get in a fight. True martial artists have nothing they need to go out and prove- they’ve proven it to themselves already. Now, if you’re talking some cocky green belt 16 year old, I could see it happening. My Senseis and my Shihan would be taking numbers to take a chunk out of my hide if they found out I went out and got into a fight. Of course, I do Kyokushin, a full contact knockdown style of karate. You don’t bully in Kyokushin because there is always somebody bigger and stronger who won’t take kindly to it. We train hard and we fight hard, so we don’t feel the need to do it elsewhere. Most Kyokushin karateka that I know are some of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. A lot of them are involved in charity work and animal rescue. We fight in tournaments, yes, but we are trained to defend and protect. We train to be warriors, not thugs. Bullies and people with ego problems don’t usually get far in Kyokushin.As for “wimpy nerds” who deal with bullies, look at Kenji Yamaki- he was bullied throughout his childhood. Skinny kid, had ears that stuck out funny. Well, he went on to do a 100 man kumite (100 rounds of full contact fighting in a row, 3 minute rounds, no breaks) winning the all japan kyokushin knockdown open tournament twice, and the all-world kyokushin knockdown open tournament once. He even played a role in the move “The Punisher.” I’ve met him. Very nice guy, very reserved, kind of shy. Amazing fighter.Krav Maga, well, it’s a crapshoot. You might get a good school or you might get a scam school. What you don’t get in any dojo or school really is nothing but huge beefeater thug looking kobra kai looking people like they showed in this comic.Of course, you also won’t get some sort of karate kid montage where somebody suddenly becomes an amazing fighter, beating people who have trained for many years after painting a fence for a couple months…

Also, one of the first things my Shihan, who is an incredible fighter, said to me? “I abhor physical violence.” You have to learn disicpline, self control, how to handle a stressful situation, how to de-escalate a situation… and when you gain the confidence of being a competent martial artist, you tend to project that in the way you move and the way you look. People are less likely to try to start something with you because you don’t radiate “VICTIM HERE! Pick on me!!!” Many friends who have known me a long time have commended on that. I haven’t been in a physical altercation since soon after I started training, either, and that incident was self defense.It’s too bad Greg didn’t have Gunther stick to it and learn. Yes, martial arts can involve blood, sweat, and tears. But it is worth it.

Gunther, that’s not true! I just started the KM training 2 days ago (because you mentioned it!). It’s a little bit exertive but fun. All my muscles hurt because of the “fitness-part” in the training… :-)

KM was developed by a jewish boxer/wrestling champ who said never again. plus, the honcho at apple has all of these perks that will make him healthy, wealthy, and wise. although, apple and all of the electronic industry should do something about the chinese labor situation. i mean do people really care more the new iphone/ipad than chinese forced child labor?

Oh, sh*t.

Does today’s “Gunther Revelation” MEAN that he will ALWAYS WHINE at EVERY Opportunity and CONTINUE to WEAR that STUPID Shirt?

Because if it does, then I’LL Starting Beating Him Up!!!

Fixed mindset at work. He’s already convinced himself of what he can’t do.

In my opinion, he needs a new role model. Forget Steve Jobs, look at Larry Ellison. He’s a head honcho and macho at the same time. It can be done.

To Gunther:I can easily sit on him if you want me to.

Knute is so right. Look at Bill Gates. He was just like Gunther always into books a computer geek and NOW he is worth BILLIONS and I bet the guys that picked on him are begging to work for him because they dont want to be dishwashers anymore. So there.

Had an Italian friend in Ohio. I didn’t see him for a couple years and ran into him at a party. I asked what he had been doing and he said right away he learned Karate. He kept insisting I ‘come at him’ so he could show everybody what he learned. I popped him in the nose and he went right on his butt and bled all over his white shirt. It was sort of embarrassing. Poor guy was slow.

There is a guilty pleasure in returning to your hometown for class reunions and finding out that the popular kids who looked down on me as nerdy are still living in the past and talking about glory days because they feel their best years are behind them.

In retrospect, they were a product of the environment our school created which was to accolade the athlete and barely mention the scholar other then the valedictorian at graduation. The school I send my children too is better but not by much.

Yep! I collect “Tapout” shirts. Have never paid for one. They’re like a sign on your back that says “Beat me up and take my shirt.”

I am not sure who you study with, but I have Black belts in several disciplines and have not used any of them in fights. Fights are a choice you make. No matter your skill level you have a choice.

Can we move on now, please!!!

No, you dope! You had the right idea – you just went to the wrong dojo – you went to Cobra-Kai instead of Miyagi.

Gunth has three options: 1) be a victim for the rest of his life, 2) get inspired by Rosa to go to this or a different martial arts training, or 3) use his head and devise a plan to out-smart Lizardman.

I hope he does the latter, especially if the plan is based on a book he and Rosa have each read.

Surviving highschool is harder than it sounds. Gunther would have been better off learning how to defend himself.

Fortunately, life does not end with high school for most of us. I was a shy skinny girl dressed in stuff from resale shops. My oldest boys are the exception (stars of the gymnastics team as well as top grades, they both continued with honors in college, while the younger 2 kids were slower to develop). I did not start a career until my divorce in the 70s when I used my drafting from HS and became self taught on the computer and in engineering for design work. We can all achieve greatness in our own way (but it helps to have some kids who have this kind of sucess ;-D

As any martial art studio that I have studied at (three cities, two states) did not have that problem of fostering trouble seekers or thugs, that does support the “discipline” theory. So now you do need to intrude with the facts that support your contention.

“I wish he’d continued with the classes.” Not so. He said he learned “that I’m not a fighter” — some people just aren’t..I had a couple of years of karate classes, Way Back When, and finally progressed to the point of entering matches. That was when I realized that if I continued, either I would get hurt, or I would hurt someone else, and I flatly did not want to go there. (Honestly, it wasn’t fear…more like deep revulsion.) So I stopped. If anyone thinks that makes a “wimpy nerd”, so be it. I’m okay with being me rather than the kind of person I would despise..However, it was fun to learn how to break a board with my hand. :)

Dudes! I am …WAS…a nearsighted scrawny nerd. Only kid who could READ in a gradeschool with six grades in one room…I got in lots of fights in high school maybe because I hadn’t learned how to fight at my peers’ level…anyway…made it to an ‘A’ team in SF, eventually taught fighting…me as sparring partner a LOT, ow, thanks, you did that one GREAT…ouch…turned ME into the big brother I always wanted to be.

I still do my wiggly moves as much as I can, but I haven’t had a scuffle…well, there was a citizen’s arrest when I was 67…maybe ten years before a guy was beating up a woman in a parking lot, and he had a lot of friends…some other people got hurt in that one, but it wasn’t anything miraculous…haven’t met any BAD people in fifty years.

Look, martial arts is something out of our medieval past. A renaissance man will know how to fight well, compose poetry and songs, and be technically very capable. The cutural standards change. I went a little nuts about it: I’m a gung fu Quixote, if you catch my drift. I forgot the ‘everything in moderation’…

Nerds grow up and become bosses. Bullies grow up and become policemen.

Avoid the extremes, Little Grasshopper! Gain a bodyguard, lose a Rosa. You may not be a fighter, little nerd, but neither are you a self-ordained victim. Find the Better Way. Solve your problem, do not wallow in it.

John L. Sullivan, the last bare-knuckles and first Queensbury world heavyweight champion, endured abuse in a bar. Asked why, replied, “because I can afford to.”

Agreed that fights are a choice you make and even the tough guys may admit it indirectly…As for firearms, there are times and places for everything. If you live at the end of twenty miles of bad road a firearm is highly advisable. If you live in a densely packed inner city you must bear in mind that there is no direction you can shoot it without endangering lives and property. A person who carries a firearm in a big city must be either extraordinarily fearful or extremely reckless. Sometimes that fear is justified. Cops, for example, do work so dangerous that it is actually safer to be armed.

A “honcho” at Apple? Really? Has Gunther ever shown any serious interest in technology or computers? As in, does he have a passion for programming or software design or development or anything else like that? All he’s been focused on these past few years has been sewing costumes. There could be a great a career for him in costume and fashion design, definitely, but not at Apple or any other similar company unless he changes his focus. Lets be realistic here. Especially considering that the “honcho” positions typically go to confident, assertive people who are able to express themselves and their innovative ideas through means other than passive aggression and mealy-mouthed whining. Being shy/awkward/nerdy doesn’t guarantee huge success down the road in itself. You have to work hard at it, just like anything else. If Gunther wastes all his time through high school and college whining about how girls are just so darn scary and those evil “machos” are the ones keeping him down (ie, blaming everyone else for his problems instead of taking charge of his own future), he’ll probably end up just as unsuccessful and unfulfilled as they are, if not more so.

..more like a contestant at Project Runway!

That’s it, Gunter! Tell Leslie that you can be either a powerful foe or a powerful friend – especially when he comes looking for a job.

I just have to make a few comments—As I have been reading this strip for over ten years, I am impressed with how the stories have developed over the course of time. Unlike Archie or Zits, the principle characters are not “frozen” in terms of personality or life situations. Luann, Brad, and their friends are not stereotypical teen-agers; they are young adults living in the created reality of a comic strip universe. I especially like the relationship of Toni and Brad, as well as the friendship of Bernice and Luann. Also, T.J., Tiffany, Gunther, Knute, Crystal etc. all have counterparts in “real life.” Additionally, I have not seen one plotline that is implausible. My congratulations to Greg Evans for this great work of art!

my second cousin is a Martial Artist……i am not sure what the Martial means…but he paints on canvas well………

I still am waiting for dirk to come and save the day! making him a good guy would definetly make things complicated, and interesting!

Except that Gunther is stuck in high school. Luann is a nightmare.

I think Gunther should speak softly and carry a big stick…..or rather a big backpack.

This is so far from the truth- do you know ANYONE involved in martial arts? Martial arts is not about “learning how to kick ass”. Try self defense, self respect, respect for others, and discipline. “Martial artists get into more fights than anybody”? Baesed on what facts? Way off base here.

For all you shirt color junkies – you can kick your addiction real easy. Pick up a used grayscale monitor on e-Bay and make the color irrelevant. You’ll be happier.

I do not know if it is true, but I heard (many years ago) that the most dangerous man in Hollywood was Wally Cox (a comic actor and the voice of “Underdog.”) If that was true, Gunther need not think he will always be picked on, no matter how much a geek, nerd, or girly-boy he appears.

My brother’s sensei had a real good way of dealing with bullies in his dojo. He would call up the bully, restate his anti-bullying policy, then kick the bully’s a—. Never failed.

When do we get the episode where Guenther “Gets Lucky”.

Maybe Mordok 999 meant to say “I LL BEAN him”.

After I got my wallet stolen on an elevated train, I trained with some nunchakus at home, bashing the tip of my thumb I don’t know how many times. After a while I got my confidence back, and also realized that I was acting like an ass so I put them away. Why nunchakus? Because I never heard of a set of chucks accidentally going off and killing someone.

San Francisco

A clip from a magazine! Hmmm!

Krav Maga is an attack only style, there is no defensive moves. So in effect Gunther is involved with pre meditated assault, not self defense. He would be better off with a judo class, that is more defensive oriented. I have to disagree with Knute though, Gunther will have his on company, and the machos will be working for HIM!

Actually I havn’t been in a fight since I first stepped into a Dojo (35+ years ago.)

The only thing worse than having to pick on the 4-eyed, buck-toothed, little geek is taking a chence on getting decked by the 4-eyed, buck-toothed, little geek!

Brad his boddyguard?

@Jerry, Brad got his job back (I think-it’s been so long)

I disagree. After watching for several weeks (before my class) the 8 year olds learning Judo & Karate. Any horsing around or misbehaviour netted the offending child a time out. .You must have met only those who don’t respect themselves and the discipline.

Someone shared a bit of marital-arts apocrypha in an online forum: A young man lost his arm in an accident. Infection set in, and doctors had to amputate more and more of the arm until there was none of it left. He became despondent. His mother took him to a judo master saying, “Please help him get his confidence back.” The judo master looked the boy over and said, “Yes, I think I can help him.” The first day of lessons, he taught the young man a move. Days went by, then weeks; and the judo master was still working on the same move with him. One day, the judo master said, “We are going to a tournament today.” They went to the tournament, and the young man won the top prize. As they returned home, curiosity got the best of the young man, and he asked his judo master, “How did I win that tournament when I only know one move?” The judo master said, “That is the only move you know, and the only move you need to know. First, you have almos mastered one of the most difficult moves in all of judo. Second, the only known defense against that move is to grab your left arm.”

I think Greg is about to translate this tale into Krav Maga. . . .

Typo correction: Almost.

Plot speculation: Since this is a comic strip, I am expecting that one hammer move to be very useful in the very near future.

I had an Asian classmate who took up Martial Arts (Kung Fu) and he told us that they were taught NOT to fight unless absolutely no alternative was possible. He spent most of his starting training exercising (you find out that you’re not as it as you think you are) and drilling. Obviously, some people will misuse any tool you give them, and some will misteach. However, this is a very bad viewpoint for Gunther, or anyone, to have. You may, in your life, be victimized … but you don’t have to accept it. I got my butt kicke more often than I’d like to admit .. but I never made it easy for anyone to do it. If someone wanted to hurt me, they had to work at it, and risk getting some back.

That’s not true at all. I’m taking a karate class and I don’t go looking for fights.

The looming shadows was a nice touch.

maybe not all women need a macho guy :/